Willi Schafer Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2023

“From a 0.24-hectare plot located at the bridge on the premier etage of this world-famous cru, the 2023 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett opens with a clear, remarkably intense and textural bouquet of perfectly ripe fruits intermingled with beautIfully saline and savory slate aromas. Fabulous. Lush yet refined and very elegant on the palate, this is a Kabinett that’s impossible to spit and swirl in the mouth. Because it is so beautifully balanced, seamlessly textured and stimulatingly saline, this crystalline, mouth-filling and intense Kabinett is absolutely gorgeous. Everything here sits in the right spot, and the finish is just moderately sweet and beautifully frisky. Calculate one bottle per person as an aperitif. 8% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2024 from AP 19 24. Drink: 2024-2050. 95 points

In the end, Christoph Schaefer was more than satisfied with the 2023 vintage, which he didn’t see coming so well, describing it as “a blend of tension, elegance and intensity,” as the family worked to bring it home in the best possible way.

“The vintage was not easy,” Christoph said at our tasting at the winery on a Sunday morning in early August. The growing season started late, with plenty of rain in the winter and spring. Then it got warm for a long time and even very warm, and the vines developed quickly. However, rain set in again at the end of July and continued into the fall. Added to this were the still-high temperatures in September, which led to the risk of rot. “The harvest was correspondingly exhausting. We started early to take the pressure off. But we had to work absolutely cleanly from the very beginning,” emphasized Christoph, who pursues a very clear, elegant and inspiring style. Starting the harvest early on September 15 was therefore the right choice. “We needed the time, also because of the elaborate selection in the vineyard,” he said. Here, the Schaefers have developed a veritable routine in recent years and are mercilessly uncompromising when it comes to negative selection. It took them over four weeks to harvest the 4.5 hectares of vines.

The result is another great series of Rieslings from the three grands crus: Graacher Domprobst, Himmelreich and Wehlener Sonnenuhr. The grape quality was at least at the Kabinett level, so it was not possible to downgrade to local wines. So, there are four Kabinett wines: three from each vineyard and a fourth again from the Domprobst. This noble, incredibly finessed and rich Kabinett (AP#1) is already the fourth consecutive vintage to be selected for the auction, whereas previously only Spätlese and Auslese vintages were selected. However, the last real Aulsese or botrytis vintage was in fact 2019. “After that, it was really only Kabinett vintages that followed,” said Christoph, who still found enough Spätlese grapes in 2023 (three in the Domprobst alone!), but for whom Auslese wines have become a rarity. “Because things don’t always get better if you wait,” as he also learned last fall. “Good Kabinett grapes quickly turn into rotten grapes that we didn’t want to use.”

For example, there were only 200 liters of raisined grapes from the 2023 vintage from the Domprobst (this precious Riesling #14 was reserved exclusively for long-standing regular customers), while there was only one glass balloon of Auslese from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr. The 55 liters of an almost perfect Riesling, filled as a “long gold capsule” (Lange Goldkapsel), will be auctioned in November.

However, the wine that you should definitely try to buy here – next to the regular Kabinett Rieslings – is the 2023 Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese, which is almost too good to be true. The fact that you don’t have to go to the auction for this quality, but to your trusted dealer, makes it Willi Schaefer’s 2023 Riesling of the Year.”

Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate (10/24)